The basic design of both manual and automatic food slicers has proven to be quite effective and durable throughout the years. Although various important improvements have been made to such slicers, the overall design has not changed very much particularly with regard to the overall cleanliness, ergonomics, or ease of operation.
Today, food slicers are utilized to slice a number of food products such as meats, cheeses and the like in a variety of environments such as delicatessens, supermarkets, and restaurants to name a few. Such food slicers need to be quite durable since they tend to be used for many hours during a day by many different individuals while providing the desired performance, safety and cleanliness.
Additionally, food slicers need to be quite accommodating since they need to handle a variety of products of different shapes and sizes while readily providing different thicknesses of the product being sliced. The speed at which a particular product is moved across the cutting blade also varies on automatic food slicers to improve productivity.
Typically, food slicers require alignment during assembly and periodic alignment of the gage plate relative to the blade to account for blade wear. Providing this alignment while maintaining the gage plate substantially parallel to the blade can be difficult, especially in the field.